Me First
by Lamanth
Summary: ONE SHOT – How many teams have broken up because they couldn’t agree on whose name came first? And has Sasuke come up with the perfect solution? Sasuke/Ino Bday. Drunksonic


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, merchandise, TV rights, ect… (I think you get the point.)

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Summery 

ONE SHOT – How many teams have broken up because they couldn't agree on whose name came first? And has Sasuke come up with the perfect solution? (Sasuke/Ino)

Like all of my work this is just something that happened to float through the empty void inside my head. Like it or hate it please R and R as honest opinions are always welcomed, as are random acts of worship.

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Lamb: Not my best work, but not as bad as it could have been considering I only had a few hours to write this in.

**Muse:** Drunkie, you are so lucky that I can come up with SasuIno ideas with out much notice otherwise you'd be dealing with a rather irritated Lamb.

_Dedi:_ Ain't that the truth. Any way this fic is dedicated to **Drunksonic** as it is, or was, her birthday. So **Drunksonic** this is for you.

Lamb: As always sorry for any bad spelling and if you feel the need to throw things at me please wait until I've hidden behind the sofa kay!?

M**use: **On with the fic!

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_Don't make no difference if I'm wrong or I'm right,  
I've got the feeling and I'm willing tonight,  
Well I ain't nobody's angel,  
What can I say, I'm just that way,_

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Me First

The fleeing ninja leapt from branch to branch, grimacing as in his haste he slipped, almost lost his footing and went plunging into empty space. He could still sense them behind him, closer now that they were before; it seemed that no matter what he did he couldn't lose them. And they were making no secret of the fact they were tracking him. Was it arrogance that stopped them from even bothering to suppress their chakra signatures? Or was it the supreme confidence that they had in their own abilities?

The ninja from The Land of Earth could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising and his pursuers steadily gained on him. As a result of the intensive training a shinobi had to undergo, they were meant to be able to control their fear and deal with any situation that they found themselves in. But the team tracking him were known and feared throughout Fire Country as well as far beyond its boarders.

He hadn't asked for the mission. Stealing a stupid scroll, it was meant to be easy, he wasn't meant to end up running for his life from a pair of the most psychotic shinobi ever to walk the face of the earth. Leaping from tree branch to tree branch he tried desperately to come up with some sort of plan. One that would hopefully leave him with his life even if it did mean he had give up the scroll, because no matter what his village leaders might think he valued his life far more than anything else.

Running away wasn't really a viable option; they were gaining on him so fast that he'd never make it over the boarder before they caught up with him. And even if he did there was no grantee that they would stop at the boarder. Konoha ninja had a reputation for being stubborn and pig headed, but mostly for never knowing when to quit. They were like a pack of dogs with a bone; they just wouldn't let go. By the same token if he stopped to set tarps then they would be on top of him before he was done.

Which meant there was only really one option available to him. Stand and fight. He wished there was another as trying to take on the pair pursuing him was almost as good as signing his own death warrant. Dropping down onto the forest floor, it took him only moments to find a small clearing and then all he could do was wait.

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"He's stopped." Sasuke said, adjusting his direction to compensate for the slight directional shift their quarry had made.

"Believe it or not, I managed to work that out on my own." The sniffy response came from his right and he had to suppress a groan at her petulant tone. _Well done Sasuke, you've managed to put your foot in it …again._

"Sorry for breathing." He muttered under his breath, but somehow his blonde companion managed to pick up what he said.

"And yet you still are." Ino made no effort to quieten her voice, yes she was in a bad mood and yes she was unfairly taking it out on Sasuke. But in her defence it could be argued that in a way he did deserve it, he was Sasuke and in Ino's opinion that made him fair game.

"Are what?" By now completely baffled not to mention rather pissed off with her attitude the Uchiha only just managed to restrain himself from pushing her off of the tree branch on which they had both just landed.

"Breathing." Ino said tartly as she landed neatly in the middle of the small clearing, before tossing her hair back and fixing her gaze on the form of the target.

"Kami-sama forgive me for using your oxygen." Sasuke grumbled landing beside her before he too focused his attention on the male they had been hunting.

"So this is the famous Sasuke/Ino team is it?" And the Earth ninja was quite proud; not only of the scorn in his tone, but also of the way he managed to keep his voice from shacking.

"I think you'll find that it's Ino/Sasuke." The blonde female said, cocking her hip in a defensive, yet sexy gesture, while she shot a look of derision at the man who hadn't even been able to get the name of the team chasing him right.

"Ino/Sasuke?" The Earth ninja questioned, looking back and forth between the pair of Konoha's finest that he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to evade. This was not what he had expected from the pair of ninja with a reputation for being one of the most efficient killing machines ever seen; maybe he would get out of this situation after all.

"No, he was right the time. It's my name then yours." Sasuke said, directing a withering look at his mission partner. Just how many times would they have to go over this before she got that fact into that little blonde head of hers? His name came first.

"No, I'm first." Ino started, taking a deep breath as she prepared to go into full attack mode over a long standing argument, that had been going on ever since she and Sasuke had first been teamed together. "Since 'I' comes before 'S' in the alphabet."

"Well 'U' comes before 'Y' so it should be me first." The dark eyed male snarled, sounding dangerously like a little kid, it was one thing for Ino to act in such a way but it was rather unbecoming for him.

Neither of the Konoha ninja looked around as the sound of their target's body hitting the forest floor with a soft thud, having been dispatched by Sasuke's shadow clone while the pair of shinobi squabbling in font of him distracted him. Anyone stupid enough to be fooled by such a basic trick didn't deserve to be the centre of attention.

"Since when have we been the Yamanaka/Uchiha team?" Ino snapped, as the argument that they had originally been using as a diversion tactic gained a life of its own. The fake fight was quickly going to become a real one if wonder boy didn't learn when it was time for him to back down, such as when she was right.

"We're not. We're the Uchiha/Yamanaka team." Sasuke was very close to loosing his temper, he'd put up Ino's foul mood every since they had been given their mission and his patience was starting to wear thin. The girl needed to lean that there were times when she was in the wrong.

"Like hell we are!" Her exclamation was almost loud enough to wake the dead, but her glare looked icy enough to kill so it probably evened things out. "Ladies first Teme or don't you know anything about manors?"

"I know I lady when I see one and," He made a very obvious show of looking Ino up and down, his eyes lingering on the bare flesh that her skimpy ninja outfit left on display. "I sure as hell ain't seeing one now you little brat."

"Hey! Don't call me little or a brat. You're only a few months older than me." Ino fumed, how dare he try and pull the whole _elders and betters_ card on her that was almost as bad as him trying to pull rank on her. The stuck up jerk.

"You know what they say Yamanaka," His lips curved up in a smirk at her reaction, she was so easy to wind up. "Age before beauty."

"Oh Sasuke-kun," Changing tact in an instant Ino cooed at him knowing it would gain a far better reaction than yelling at him would. "At last you finally admit I'm better looking than you."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Sasuke spluttered indignantly before turning to face the corps that lay spread-eagled on the ground. "My name is first end of story."

"This is far from over," Ino screeched like a fishwife and grabbing hold of his shoulder hauled him round so that he was forced to face her once more. "And don't you start thinking you can just turn your back on me."

"Why not?" Sasuke grumbled, fixing her with a baleful look. "I'm being paid to deal with him not you."

"So get on with it then." The blonde kunoichi huffed in annoyance. "Just don't expect to be _dealing_ with me any time soon." She shoved him away from her and leapt cat like into the nearest tree, leaving her team-mate to dispose of the body knowing that he would catch her up in no time.

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Ino had covered a fair distance by the time Sasuke finally caught up with her, it was evident that she had been going much faster than she would have normally been, a sure sign that she was in a foul mood. But then again she had good reason to be, not just because of their long-standing argument, but mostly since they had been forced to take a mission far below their standard. Hell, most Genin fresh out of the academy could have taken the guy out.

But having said that it never took much to piss Ino off. True it didn't take much to put her back in a good mood either. The girl was an emotional yo-yo, up and down all day long. It was like he was constantly walking on eggshells, except that the eggshells were covering a powder keg and he was covered in oil and holding a lighted match. One simple little slip and everything would blow up in his face.

And yet when it came to mission partners, as well as other forms of partner, there was no one else he'd rather have. With Ino there were always sparks, she could burn you to a cinder one moment and the next rekindle the fire in you that you had never really managed to extinguish. Plus she also heated his blood in a way like no other ever had. She drove him to distraction half the time, but he couldn't contemplate a life without her. Which was probably what prompted him to finally brake the silence that had settled between them.

"You know something Ino?" Sasuke ignored the way she stiffened when he spoke, sometimes she was too good an actress for her own good. Or for his. "I think I've finally worked out a solution to our little problem when it comes to names."

"Really?" Ino's tone clearly said she didn't give a damn what his wonderful idea might be, unless it was something along the lines of him cutting out his own tongue. Though she would have admitted that would have been a real shame as he could be so inventive with it. "Then please feel free to dazzle me with your wit."

"We just change then name of the team." He said in an even tone, deliberately ignoring the petulant tone of hers along with the biting sarcasm behind the words.

"And what exactly did you have in mind?" Ino drawled, rolling her eyes but since Sasuke was behind her the gesture was a pointless one.

"I was thinking something none controversial and simple that we could both remember," A smile pulled at Sasuke's lips as he anticipated the blonde's reaction. "For example how d'you feel about the Uchiha/Uchiha team?"

Ino landed on the next branch, not quite a gracefully as she normally did, and turned to gaze wide eyed at the dark haired male who landed beside her. Had he meant that the way it had sounded? Because it had sounded a hell of a lot like a proposal, and that couldn't have been what he meant. Could it? But the expression on Sasuke's face, caused the blonde's stomach to tie its self into knots while her rapidly beating heart tried to leap into her throat.

"Ino?" An inviolate shiver ran through her body when his fingers brushed lightly against her cheek, but then again even from the start of their somewhat complex relationship she had always been responsive to his slightest touch.

"Uchiha/Uchiha?" Ino whispered, turning the combination over her as if testing out a new idea, while she tried to gather her rather scattered wits. "And since 'I' comes before 'S' in the alphabet I'll come first?"

"Ino, if you say yes I promise that you will always," His voice dropped to a low husky whisper as he backed her up against the trunk of the tree. "Always, come first."

The double meaning behind that statement was not lost on Ino who, instead of answering, wrapped her arms around Sasuke and pulled him into a deep kiss. Who then responded by showing her just how much he intended to keep his promise.

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Lamb: There, like I said not my best but I hope it wasn't too bad.

**Muse:** I think I need a lie down, I'm suffering from acute exhaustion.

_Dedi:_ I think this once we can be nice to you and, **Drunksonic**, we hope you liked it.

Please R and R I'd love to know what you thought.

Big love and inspiration

Lamanth


End file.
